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American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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WHITE HOUSE OUTLINES MISSILE DEFENSE VISION The Bush administration has at long last publicly articulated its ambitious vision for global missile defense. The “National Policy on Ballistic Missile Defense,” officially released by the White House on May 20th, defines defenses against ballistic missiles as an “essential component” of the Bush administration’s efforts to adapt American defense to emerging threats. “Some states are aggressively pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles as a means of coercing the United States and our allies,” the document explains. “To deter such threats, we must devalue missiles as tools of extortion and aggression.” While emphasizing that missile defenses “are not a replacement for an offensive response capability,” the policy brief stresses that they represent “an added and critical dimension of contemporary deterrence.” Cooperative missile defense projects, meanwhile, “will also help to assure allies and friends, and to dissuade countries from pursuing ballistic missiles in the first instance by undermining their military utility,” according to the Administration white paper. U.S., RUSSIA DRIFT CLOSER The June 1st summit in St. Petersburg between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have yielded a new accord on missile defense collaboration between Washington and Moscow. Reuters (June 1) reports that, following their consultations, the two leaders issued a joint statement affirming plans to “advance concrete projects in the area of missile defence which will help deepen relations between the United States and Russia.” The pledge confirms recent comments by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov about the possibility of a breakthrough in U.S.-Russian missile defense diplomacy. But the idea of such cooperation still has its holdouts. In a recent interview with the Vozdushno- Kosmicheskaya Oborona (Air and Space Defense) journal, Col. Gen. Yuriy Baluyevsky, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, downplayed the reliability of a national missile defense system for the United States. In his comments, covered by Interfax (May 22), Baluyevsky stressed that the proposed system’s inability to guarantee total accuracy renders it ineffective as a protection against ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Baluyevsky’s comments reflect ongoing opposition within the Russian military to the Kremlin’s plans for cooperation with the United States on missile defense. AUSTRALIA OPTS FOR LIMITED DEFENSE An official review of ballistic missile threats and responses by the Australian government has yielded a decision not to pursue a comprehensive national missile defense, Defence Minister Robert Hill revealed on May 18th. While emphasizing Canberra’s support of the “principle” behind the Bush administration’s NMD efforts, Hill stressed that his government had ruled out a nationwide system in favor of protection of “targets at greatest risk.” “In terms of our forces operating off shore at a particular theatre, there are ways now that they can be protected from incoming missiles, even long-range ballistic missiles,” the Defence Minister said in comments carried by the Australian Age newspaper. “It’s more money, it’s an upgraded capability, but we’ll be looking at that not only in this review but in the years ahead.” CANADA EDGES TOWARD DIALOGUE After weeks of internal debate, Canada has officially announced plans to initiate formal missile defense discussions with the United States, Fox News (May 30) reports. Ottawa’s decision was revealed in a public address to Parliament by Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum, who emphasized that while Canada’s participation was by no means “unconditional,” his government viewed missile defense as an important component of “ensur[ing] maximum protection of the lives of its citizens.” Nevertheless, Ottawa appears to have already set limits on its missile defense cooperation with Washington. In his first public comments on the issue in recent weeks, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien made clear that he “will not participate in a program if it is to be the weaponization of space,” Reuters (May 30) reports. A PUSH FOR MISSILE DEFENSE IN THE GULF Amid growing international worries over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have resumed efforts to acquire missile defenses. Defense News (May 23) reports that GCC officials are currently reviewing plans for collective defenses against ballistic missile attack for the six-member grouping, and are moving forward with national anti-missile systems for individual Council states. “There is ongoing coordination between GCC states and there are joint committees studying and assessing our needs for a ballistic missile defense system,” Defense News cites Maj. Gen. Khaled Al-Bu Ainain, commander of the UAE Air Force and Air Defense Command, as saying. “We are evaluating systems on both the multinational level for the collective defense of GCC states, and on national level for defense of each gulf state.” |
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